Monster Hunter Rise Review

Playthrough Highlights

Immediately after download, the very first thing I did that a PC gamer would do is go to the settings menu and maxed out everything I can to get the game looking as good as possible on my ultrawide monitor.

The PC port of Rise has some graphical improvements over the original Switch version that makes playing it a much more experience for PC users like me. Rise on the PC has support for monitor resolutions up to 4K and ultrawide support for those who want to have the most immersive monster hunting experience at your desk, and uncapped framerates for buttery smooth animations and timing your heavy-hitting moves perfectly.

Another big shocker that I come across when I saw the first opening cutscenes of the game is how much more detailed the game is compared to the Switch version. I caught a glimpse of my colleagues banding together with their Switches in the game and I was blown away at how much detail there is to the textures. I even had to do a sanity check to compare the visuals from both versions, and the PC port just trumps over everything in the visuals department. Textures are just much sharper and clearer to me.

Jumping into the game and blazing through the first few hours, it could be because of my past experience of playing my fair share of Monster Hunter during my 3DS days, I didn’t notice that the gameplay mechanics have been made easier to learn when I was slogging through the tutorial section. Rise took some pages out of World and streamlined the entire experience to make it easier for newcomers to get into the series, and Rise is even more accessible to those who want to enjoy the Monster Hunter for the first time.

Playing Rise also made me feel that the game is much more fast-paced than any other entry I have played, and it’s thanks to two new gameplay features that made it so. The first is the introduction of a new companion, the Palimute, which is a dog-like companion that you can customize to your own playstyle during hunts and gives you to ability to travel across large areas or speed through a hunt by riding on it, as well as climbing up ledges quickly to catch up with the monster you are hunting down.

The second addition is the introduction of the Wirebug, which it itself adds yet another layer of combat mechanics to augment your playstyle. While you are primarily taught to use it as a tool to introduce more verticality and upwards mobility for the player to overcome terrain, it is also a useful tool to quickly move out of the way and dodge attacks and AOE moves and give yourself some breathing to prep your equipment. But of course, the best use of the Wirebug is to take control of any monster you like while they are stunned or weak and pit them against other larger monsters against their will to get both loots at the same time. Additionally, you can also use the Wirebug to pin them down and deal as much damage as you can before they break free.

Another new addition in Rise that I didn’t expect to like this much is the introduction of a TDM game mode. This is where you essentially defend the town from invading monsters either with a group of friend or all alone by yourself with NPCs. There is also a surprising amount of depth to the minigame that requires some serious coordination from other players in order to successfully defend the village from other monsters. One player would have to be at the frontlines to hold the monsters back, while another player will have to dedicate themselves to shoveling coal to reduce the cooldown time for defences, and another will be spending a majority of their time manning the turrets and rain hell onto them.

Last, but not least, is the completely new theme of the world in Rise. The whole world is essentially revolved around a more oriental and Japanese theme this time, rather than the grand fantasy vibes as seen in World and other Monster Hunter games. While I don’t miss the large areas that really give you the immersion of being in a fantasy novel in World, I enjoyed the smaller and more compact world of Rise and it definitely suits the whole them of the games name, Rise and its theme revolving around ninjas in Japan and introduction of the Wirebug to make it happen.